The Customary Tenure (CT) is a set of rules and norms that govern community allocation, use, access, and transfer of land and other natural resources. The term “customary tenure” invokes the idea of “traditional” rights to land and other natural resources. In Cambodia, this concept is confined only to Indigenous People (IP), and there is a need to broaden the scope, because Khmer farmers are also practicing Customary Tenure. However, there is no recognition of their practices in the Land Law, only in the Forestry Law and protected areas law. The absence of legal provision and strong organizations advocating for their land tenure security, is putting the poor farmers in a vulnerable position.

At the third MRLG national stakeholders workshop hold in November 2016, MLRG partner organizations came together to explore the customary tenure of Khmer farmers who live the upland and low land. After this workshop, MLRG documented the “Farmers’ Customary Tenure” of the upland and low land people. The objectives of the Documentation of Farmers’ Customary Tenure are to: 1) improve the understanding through characterization or description of the Khmer upland and low land farmers (land, forestry and fisheries), 2) inform the concerned stakeholders and wider public on the importance of recognition of CT for Khmer farmers. Under these objectives, there 2 clusters of activities, which are 1) Document CT of Khmer in upland areas, 2) Produce one video case study on CT of Khmer in lowland areas. This project is financed by MRLG- Mekong River Land Governance.